Week Two

Hello everyone,

You're doing a great job on your blogs. I've really had a great time 'surfing' the different pages and seeing all your photos, posts and comments. Thank you for taking time to answer my blog question also.

One of the great aspects of blogging is that anyone can use them for almost any purpose. Current research says that there the blogosphereare has over 70 million bloggers and it's growing every day. Common uses of blogs include, journals, news, columns, editorials, collaborative writing projects, and publishing research.

Here are a few examples of blogs that you might enjoy.


Tips for New Bloggers  (this is a blog to give advice for new bloggers)
Daily Dose of Imagery
(This blog shows a different photo taken by the blogger every day)
CBC Radio3 (this Radio blog
plays music and updates you on local Canadian news)
My Dinner Table (a
cooking blog)
Post Secret (this is
an blog where people mail in their secrets or thoughts in the form of a picture postcard)
Our Green Year (A
personal blog from a family trying to be environmentally friendly)
The Life and
Times of Jori (A personal blog by a mother raising two
developmentally challenged sons)




My question this week is; Was it difficult for you to make your blog? Describe what made it difficult for you.


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Session Two First Day

Welcome Classes 2, 4 and 6. I hope that you have had a good time creating your blogs. By now, they should be listed on the right side of this page. Just scroll down to find your classmembers. You can also take a look at blogs from classes 1, 3 and 5 from session 2.

My question for this week is;

What is the nicest or worst thing that has happened to you on Teacher's Day?

Click on the comment below this question post to leave an answer. Remember to sign in to your own blog first so that your answer will show your name.

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Final post for session one

I want to thank all of you for your hard work as bloggers. You put a lot of effort into your blogs and into your communication skills. Many of you posted over thirty comments and some over forty. There was a total of 297 questions and 882 comments posted. There was also an improvement in your writing as most of your questions became more complex and authentic towards the end of the session. I also noticed that 31 of you managed to alter your blogs with images, video, widgets, colored fonts and more.

I hope that this experience has made you feel more confident about using a computer and given you some ideas for your own teaching.

My last question for the session is; Is there any other technology that you would like to learn more about for yourself or for your teaching?

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8th Question

This week, I would like to ask you to answer questions from other classes. You will find the links on the right side of this blog.

My question this week is; How has blogging impacted you?
Consider;
Your skill with the computer
Your typing
Your understanding of blogging software
Your level of confidence with technology
Your ability to communicate digitally
Your reading and writing
Your English in general. For example, did you talk about the blog in the English zone.
Your teaching skills

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Sixth Question

Hello everyone,

This week in class we concentrated on story telling. We also told chain stories in class to focus on past tense verbs as our target language. This week, I'm going replace my usual question with the start of a story. If you would like to, you can continue the story in the comments.



When I arrived in Paris, it was raining. The sky was dark and grey as I checked into my hotel and even darker as I left it. It was not a good night for a walk but I had no choice. I was meeting someone.


Your turn! Don't forget to read the other comments so that you can continue the story.

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Fifth Question

Hello everyone,

Blogging is beginning to be used by teachers for a variety of reasons and you can read a few of them at Blog in Teaching and Learning and read a few practical applications of blogs for your own classes at Weblogs For Use In The ESL Class

Here are a few examples of teacher blogs;

Kathy Cassidy's Elementary class
Carmack's Critters (First Grade)
Miller's Grade 10 English Blog
Mrs Cowan's Class blog (elementary)
Open ESL Classroom blog

As all of you are teachers and taking this program to upgrade your skills, I hope that everything you do here has some application for when you return to your schools in September. My question this week is;

Can you think of ways to use blogs to help your students learn and to improve your own teaching methods? Do you think you will use blogging when you return to school? Feel free to post your true thoughts on this topic as it will help me to understand how to create more effective materials for future classes.

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Fourth Question

I've really been enjoying all of your comments, both on my page and on other pages. I think one of the benefits of using blogs in this way was is to increase literacy. For more information on this topic, you can read this short article.

Blogs don't always have to be about written literacy. Sometimes, people use, images, audio and video to tell their stories and share information. Take a look at;

Daily Dose of Imagery: a new picture every day
Great Books: an audio recording of a chapter of a book every day
Food Wishes: Video demonstrations of cooking


My question this week is quite simple.

Have you been reading other people's comments or looking carefully at their page before you post a comment yourself? Can you think of the benefits of doing so?


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Third Question

In class this week, I was asked what subjects interest me and I answered science and technology. This week's question relates to both those topics. I was reading an article on Korea's First Astronaut in the Korea Times newspaper, which stated "Preparations are almost over and Yi So-yeon is ready for her trip to the International Space Station to become the first Korean in space on April 8." In related articles, the Korean Government has said that it plans to go to the moon by 2025.

My question for this week is; Is it a good idea for Korea to join the space race? Why or why not?


Go towidget to find fun ways to personalize your blog.

Second Question

Hi everyone,

I'm so impressed with your blogging. You've all done great jobs. I also want to thank you for your comments on my blog. It was very interesting to read about your hometowns.

If you have time this week, try to customize your page a little by adding extra features or pictures. You might want to play with the font or text options. Put links or information about your interests. Make the page representative of your personality. For more information on how to do that, go to blogger help.

My question for this week is;

How difficult was starting the blog for you? Describe why it was easy or difficult for you.



What music is Nicole Listening to? This is "Bamboleo" by The Gypsy Kings



This red player is called a widget. If you would like to try using this or others widgets, go to; WidgetBox

First question

I grew up in Vancouver, Canada. We lived in a suburban home outside the city so I had access to lots of parks and could walk to my different schools as I got older. You can find my childhood neighborhood here.


Where did you grow up?



Click on the small speaking bubble at the bottom of this post to answer my question.